Premonition
by K.C.Dragonfly
Summary: Catherine is living the week from hell and must save the woman she loves. But is it too late? I suck at rating so is M to be safe.
1. Thursday

**Hi guys *waves* am back! This story is based on the movie Premonition and came to me when i was watching it the other day. Hope y'all enjoy. Updates should be quick, please review. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or Premonition and am making no profit from this, unfortunately. **

**x x x x**

_Premonition_

Premonition: A sense or feeling of foreboding concerning a possible event in the future.

Precognition: The ability to know impeding events before they happen.

**Thursday**

I roll over and smack the alarm clock. Before I have chance to register what time it is Lindsey bounds through the door and onto the bed, onto me.

"Morning baby." I mumble.

"When's Sara coming home?" She asks, clambering over the covers until she is sitting on my stomach.

"Tonight honey. It was only an overnight trip." I answer, waking up a bit more now.

"Why couldn't we go with her?" Slowly I manage to pull myself into a sitting position, with Lindsey now on my lap and gazing up at me with curious blue eyes.

"Because it was work. It wouldn't have been very fun, and besides, you have school." I say, tapping her nose. She scrunches up her face and I laugh. "C'mon, let's get you dressed." I pick her up and clamber out of bed, balancing her on my hip.

X x x

After dropping Lindsey at school, once again having to remind her to pick her lunch up off the backseat, I stop off at the store to buy groceries before heading home, where I call Nancy while cleaning the kitchen. Multi-tasking always was a forte of mine.

"Anyway, I have to go. Got ironing to do." Nancy jokes.

"Mhmm. What's his name?" I suppress a smile.

"Well I don't like his name much, it's Harry, but you never know he could be the one."

"Pigs could fly. Good luck hon." I say before hanging up and going to tend to my laundry. Some of us actually do have ironing to do. As I'm sorting through the basket of clothes I find Lindsey's rainbow jumper and after a brief inspection find that it is clean enough to be worn again so I put it aside.

X x x

With the laundry done I move onto a task that I've been meaning to do for ages and never got around to. Lindsey and Jeremy are always running through the house and one day I swear one of them is going to go through the sliding glass doors onto the patio. So, I spend a good hour putting brightly coloured stickers on them so that they can clearly tell when the doors are closed. This was Sara's idea and when I'm done I stand back to admire and I must admit it was a damn good idea.

X x x

Having finished my major chores I go to the kitchen to make myself a cup of coffee and on the way past I press the answer machine to check my messages. I have one.

"Hi, um, it's me. I just wanted you to know that I meant what I said the other night and, well I want you to remember it." Sara's voice runs through my body and drenches me in warmth. We have had a few problems lately, but she can still have this effect on me. She pauses a moment and I can hear her swear under her breath as she finds she has a call waiting. "Is that you?" she asks quietly before the message ends. I stare at the answer machine for a moment as if it would answer my unasked question, until the doorbell breaks me out of my trance.

Upon answering the door my heart sinks. Even though I know the person staring back at me well, I still get that feeling that one always gets when you find a policeman on your doorstep. And something in the detective's eyes tells me that this is no social call.

"Jim, what's up?" I ask, leaning against the doorframe.

"Catherine, I hate to be the one to tell you this." He goes silent for a moment, as if he's not sure how to say it.

"Jim?" The word trembles as it leaves my lips; I do not like where this is going. Sadness takes over his face.

"I'm so sorry." He whispers. "It's Sara." In that moment my heart stops. "She's dead."

X x x

I don't know how much time passes before I finally stutter a question.

"How?"

"A car accident, yesterday. I only found out today myself."

"No, no, this isn't possible; I just heard a message from her." I stammer, grasping at anything I can to make this stop. Jim just shakes his head sadly. Finally I collapse into sobs in his arms.

In that moment I thought that my world had ended.

I did not realise that it was all just beginning.


	2. Monday

**Is not my favourite chapter but will get better. x**

**x x x x**

**Monday**

I don't remember much of anything after Jim left. I remember the look on my little girl's face when I broke the news to her. I remember my mother holding me as I cried. I remember falling asleep on the couch with our wedding photo in my arms.

Which is why I am confused when I awaken in my bed, our bed, alone. I sit up and look around blankly, not really sure what I'm looking for. I stumble out of bed and down the hall to the guest room.

"Mom?" I ask, poking my head around the door. The room is empty, the bed un-slept in. I head downstairs and as I approach the kitchen I can hear the TV talking to itself.

Or not, it seems. For sitting at the bench, eating a bowl of cereal, is my Sara. Living and breathing. I daren't move, daren't blink, daren't even breath in case this illusion disappears, but she does not go away. She's still there, in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of shorts, watching a Frasier re-run.

"Sara?" I whisper. She looks at me and smiles, until she notices the look on my face. If I had to guess utter confusion and disbelief would probably describe it best.

"What's wrong?" She asks, getting up off the stool. I cannot take my eyes off of her, I cannot believe this. "Cath?" She asks again, coming over to me.

"It's... nothing," I reach out and tenderly stroke her face, just needing to check that she really is in front of me. "No... I'm ...it's nothing." I mumble. "Just a bad dream." She wraps her arms around me and I hold her close, burying my face into her neck. Never have I wanted to breathe her in so much as I do right now.

"It's ok hon." She murmurs, placing a kiss into my hair. We stand like this for a moment, as I am unwilling to let her go, until the sound of tiny footsteps barrelling down the stairs tears us apart. Sara lets me go to catch Lindsey just as she runs into the kitchen. "Morning butterfly," she says sweetly, kissing Lindsey's cheek, before setting the seven year old down again and heading upstairs for a shower. Lindsey settles down at the table and gives me a funny look as I remain in the doorway looking somewhat perplexed.

X x x

After Sara took Lindsey to school and left to follow up some leads at work I decided to finish my housework from yesterday...or to do the housework I thought I'd already done.

With that shockingly vivid dream still playing strongly on my mind I go outside to bring the washing in. Distracted, I don't see one of Lindsey's toys in the grass and find myself falling. As I hit the ground my hand lands on something soft and wet. I cry out in shock as I look from my bloodied hand to the dead crow lying next to me. I stagger to my feet and run into the house, leaving a bloody smear across the glass door on my way. I wince as I wash my hand under the tap and that is the first time I realise that I have cut myself.

After tending to my wound and disposing of the dead bird (wearing rubber gloves this time), I decide to abandon the rest of my chores to go pick up Lindsey from school.

X x x

That night I don't tell Sara about the bird or the cut on my hand. I don't tell her about my dream. Instead we make small talk over dinner and Sara goes to get a couple of hours sleep before we both go back to work tonight.

While she is asleep I creep into our bedroom and lay down next to her. I tenderly brush her hair out of her eyes and watch her chest rising and falling as she lies peacefully.

Guilt creeps into my subconscious, for now I realise how much I have taken this luxury for granted. And I vow never to again. It strikes me how amazing it is that all it takes is one dream to make you realise what is truly important to you.

Granted Sara and I have drifted apart recently due to work and those standard bumps in the road that comes with the first year of marriage. However, I vow not to let them destroy our marriage.

Oh, if only I knew.


	3. Saturday

**Saturday**

I awaken in bed, and the first thing I see is a glass of red wine next to me, half empty. I stumble my way out of bed and into the bathroom, intending to splash water onto my face, to clear the confused fog in my head. However, I find my sink filled with white tablets, an empty prescription bottle for lithium lying next to them. Puzzled, I check the label and see the name Dr Norman Roth. I have never heard of him. I look up, and am even more puzzled to find that I cannot see myself staring back. For some reason there is a sheet over my mirror. I walk back through the bedroom and into the hallway, finding that mirror covered over too.

I head downstairs, and find my living room full of people. The whole nightshift is here, lab techs too, and some police officers. Everyone is in black. My mother and my sister appear out of the crowd and approach me. Under any other circumstances it would probably bother me that the only thing I am wearing is an over-sized t-shirt of Sara's and my hair looks like a birds nest, but as it is I don't care.

"Lindsey?" I ask immediately.

"She's okay, she's just outside with Jeremy." Nancy assures me. The boys from work try to talk to me, to offer their condolences, but I walk straight past them and outside.

X x x

Lindsey is on the swing, with her back to me. Jeremy immediately runs over and wraps his arms around me. "I'm sorry auntie Catherine." The little boy says sadly. I hug him back and place a kiss in his hair before approaching Lindsey, calling her name softly. She does not speak, does not look at me. When I reach her I think I stop breathing.

Her beautiful face is littered with cuts.

"Baby, what happened? Who did this? Baby?" She just looks straight through me. "Lindsey, honey, what happened to your face?" I ask more determinedly. Jeremy appears by my side and brushes a stand of Lindsey's blonde hair behind her ear.

"I don't see anything, she's beautiful. Like a princess."He says. I look from him to her, and she just smiles at me. Desperately, I pull them both into my arms and hold them tight against my chest.

X x x

It is Sara's funeral today. I do not understand why it is so soon, but then I do not understand any of this right now. Sara was alive, I saw her, I kissed her. And now she's gone, again, and my beautiful baby is hurt. And I don't understand.

We get out of the limo and head into the church, Nancy and Warrick on either side of me. I turn to watch the bearers as they lift my wife's coffin out of the hearse. An idea strikes me.

"Cathy?" Nancy calls, trying to nudge me forward.

"Take the kids inside." I instruct, heading back down the steps towards the hearse. Nancy tells my mother to take the kids and her and Warrick follow me as I run towards the car. "Take the lid off." I demand.

"Cath, come inside." Warrick says softly, but I don't listen.

"I need to see her," I insist again, refusing to budge. When they ignore me I launch at the coffin, struggling against them to try and get inside. Warrick and Nick, who had seen the commotion, try to hold me back but in the heat of the moment I'm too strong for them. As a result of the struggle, the bearers drop the coffin and it falls onto the ground with a dull thud. The heavy wooden lid slides off and my knees buckle at the sight that lays before me. Lying there, bruised and pale in her eternal casket, is my Sara. My beautiful wife. I break down, hysterical sobs rising from my throat uncontrollably. I'm sure, if you listened hard enough, you could hear my heart breaking in two.

X x x

After the funeral I am sitting on the steps outside the church, unable to move. The image of her lying there is forever burned into my mind. I am so lost that I do not notice the boys approach or Nick sit next to me until he wraps an arm around me and places a kiss into my hair.

"It's going to be okay Cath." He mumbles. I nod, though I do not believe it. If only prayers were answers, maybe I could get my head around this.

My mother and Jim appear by my side, escorted by a man in a white suit who I don't recognise and two freakishly burly men. I blink up at her.

"What's going on?" I ask, wiping my tears away, an effort in vain.

"We're really sorry Cath," Jim says, shaking his head. I look from him to my sister and these strange men.

"Catherine, my name's Dr Roth, do you recognise me?" The man in the white suit asks me. I shake my head, although the name rings a bell. The prescription for lithium.

"What's going on?" I ask, staggering to my feet.

"I'm sorry honey, it's for the best." My mother says, tears trickling their way down her face. The burly men grab my arms before I can do anything. "It's for Lindsey."

"No, please stop!" I yell, fighting against them with little effect. "I didn't hurt my daughter; I would never hurt my child! Lindsey!" I scream, but even to my own ears it sounds pathetic. The last glimpse of Lindsey I get is of her struggling against Nancy, tears streaming down her scarred face, before I am bundled into that back of a car.

X x x

I try to fight but it is hopeless, I'm strapped down on my back, my arms and legs pinned down by straps. "Please just let me go." I beg.

"We told her that her wife had died on Thursday." I hear a police officer tell someone.

"She visited me on Tuesday and told me that she was already dead." Dr Roth says.

"This is wrong, I need to fix it!" I yell but clearly no one is interested in what I have to say right now. The burly men are back and one is brandishing a syringe. "No! She's alive, I have to save her!" I scream as loud as I can, putting all my energy into fighting back, until everything fades to black.


	4. Tuesday

**Thank you for the reviews so far, hope y'all enjoying it so far x**

**x x x x**

**Tuesday**

I wake with a start and immediately check my arms. There is nothing there, no needle, no scars. No trace of an injection. And I'm at home. I can hear the shower running in the bathroom. Climbing out of bed and putting my gown on over my night slip, I walk slowly to the bathroom, almost scared to find out. Grasping the shower curtain firmly I drag it open, much to the surprise of Sara, who stares at me over her shoulder.

"What?" She asks, raising an eyebrow. Without answering I step into the shower, night gown and all, and wrap my arms around her from behind. She places her hands over mine. "You're getting drenched." She states softly, confusion evident in her voice.

"One more minute. I can feel your heartbeat." I murmur into the back of her left shoulder, my lips resting just above her guardian angel tattoo. "It's nice." We stand like this for a moment until Sara tries to move but I grip her tighter. "Not yet." I whisper, peppering kisses on her back and neck.

"I've got to go to work remember." She says, making no other effort to move. Eventually I release her and step out of the shower, dripping wet and confused as hell, and leave the bathroom without explaining my impromptu intrusion.

Downstairs I begin making breakfast for Lindsey when she runs into the room and clambers onto a chair. As soon as I look at her by face breaks out into a broad smile. I take my daughter's face, perfect and unscathed, in my hands.

"You're so beautiful." I say, examining every inch of her tiny face. She grins at me, pulling her face free so she can eat. "You're gorgeous." I continue, unable to tale my eyes off of her or get the smile off my lips.

X x x

After taking Lindsey to school I returned home. On my way up the driveway I stopped and peered into my trashcan, finding a dead crow staring back at me. I swallowed hard and ran inside, grabbing my phonebook on the way. "Dr Roth." I mutter as I find his number and address. Without a thought I rip out the whole page and get straight back in my car.

X x x

"Do you recognise me?" I ask him, standing in the middle of his office. The receptionist that tried to stop me wandering in is stood behind me, glaring at the back of my head but I don't care. Dr Roth looks at me a moment.

"Should I?" He asks, dropping his files on the desk. I shake my head, more out of loss than an answer. "That'll be all Joyce." He says to the receptionist, who leaves with a suspicious look.

X x x

"So, your wife is dead?" He asks, clearly trying to get his head around this.

"Yes, no. Not yet. She was dead. Then she was alive. I know it sounds crazy."

"No, it sounds like you need help." I raise an eyebrow. He stands up and goes over to his cabinet where he begins to fill out a form.

"I'm not mad." I state.

"I know that. But I think that I have something that can help you." He returns with a bottle of pills. I look at them warily so he explains. "Lithium. Just think about it." He places them in my hand and opens the door, a sign that my impromptu session is over. Once I get into my car I look at the bottle, the same one that I found in my sink yesterday. Or Saturday.

X x x

Before I go home I go to the lab. Sara is in the locker room changing before going for a meeting with Grissom and Ecklie about the conference Gil and her are going on.

"Hi." I say softly, getting her attention. She looks at me surprised.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" she asks smiling. I shrug and despite my best efforts tears begin to sting at my eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?" Her smile fades and she comes over, wrapping her arms around me tightly.

"Nothing. I just needed to see you." I say quietly, nuzzling into her shoulder. The sound of someone clearing their voice gets our attention and I turn around to find Grissom stood behind me.

"Hi Catherine. Ready Sara?" He says, all of his attention on her so much that he does not notice my tears.

"Yeah I'm coming, you gonna be ok?" She asks me, swiping her thumbs lightly underneath my eyes. I nod and she pecks a kiss on my lips before departing with Grissom, his hand resting lightly on the small of her back.

X x x

I picked up Lindsey and Jeremy from school today and left them playing in the front garden, while I am upstairs in my bathroom contemplating the pills. I shake two out into my hand, then six and stare at them for a moment before shaking out a few more. I am on the edge right now, I could stop this whole thing in just one simple act. A playful shriek from outside brings me back down to earth and reminds me why I couldn't do that. Resolutely I drop the pills and shake the rest into the sink, throwing the bottle in after.

A noise outside the window gets my attention and I see it's raining. Temporarily forgetting the pills I run downstairs and outside, yelling for the kids to come inside as I'm rushing outside to get the washing in. I can hear Lindsey calling my name and, as I stand in the middle of the yard I see her running through the house towards me. The image of my little girl bruised and cut flashes into my mind and I shout for her to stop, but it is too late. There is nothing I can do as I see my baby crashing through the patio doors in a shower of glass.

X x x

I burst through the hospital doors with Lindsey cradled in my arms and Jeremy by my side. A doctor takes her from me and rushes her off into a room where I am refused entry. Before I can even being to fret Sara appears by my side.

"Hey, where is she?" Panic is written all over her face and I cannot help but wonder how many speed limits she broke to get here.

"They just took her in." I stammer out. Sara bends down and picks Jeremy up, balancing him on her hip while holding me to her with her other arm.

"It'll be okay." She whispers, whether to him or me I don't know but being in her arms calms me enough to focus on what's important right now.

X x x

The last mirror in the house, the one in Lindsey's room, is finally covered. I turn to the kids, who are tucked up in bed. Nancy agreed to let Jeremy stay over tonight to keep Lindsey company. I sit on the edge of her bed and brush the hair away from her face.

"As far as I'm concerned there are no scars. You're beautiful." I tell her.

"Like a princess." Jeremy pipes up. I smile at him and ruffle his hair.

"Exactly. My little prince and princess." I give them each a goodnight kiss and turn out the light, hovering in the doorway for a moment longer, unwilling to leave her.

When I get downstairs Sara is on the porch sweeping up the glass. She doesn't look at me but I know that she senses my presence.

"I thought you were going to put stickers up." She says quietly.

"I did." I say immediately, then I stop. "I thought I had." I finish more quietly. She finishes cleaning and empties the glass into the trashcan, before making her way to the kitchen to get a drink of water. I follow, hovering close to her without really knowing what to say or do. Her eyes soften and she pulls me close and kisses my cheek.

"Everything will be okay." She says softly. In this moment I could almost believe that. Almost.

X x x

On my way to bed I pull the crumpled page from the phonebook out of my pocket and toss it into the trashcan, certain that I will not need it again. However, in that action something comes back to me. I stare at it for a moment, as if it could give me the answers I desperately need, before running back downstairs and sitting down with a piece of paper and a pen. I draw a timeline of the week so far, leaving Friday with a question mark, and hide it under the tablecloth.

With my notes prepared I go in search of Sara again, and find her in the same spot I left her, leaning against the kitchen counter staring out of the window, lost in her thoughts. I wrap my arms around her neck from behind, startling her.

"Promise me something." I murmur into her ear.

"Mhmm?" She turns her head slightly.

"If tomorrow's Wednesday, you'll wake me up before you leave." She turns around and gives me a strange look.

"If tomorrows Wednesday?"She queries.

"I know it sounds strange, just promise me." I beg. She nods and pulls me close, running a hand though my hair.

"I promise."


	5. Friday

**Friday**

I wake up on the couch, my wedding photo still clutched tightly to my chest. Someone, probably my mother, has covering me with a blanket but it is to no avail; I am cold to the bone.

I remember the note I wrote and immediately retrieve it from underneath the table cloth. Quickly scanning the details I determine that today is Friday and I make a plan of action.

Without a word to my mother or my sister I grab my keys and drive to the lab. Nick and Warrick, their eyes red raw from crying, are surprised to see me and try to speak to me but I walk straight past them. I am not here to talk to them; I am here for one person and one person only.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" I ask, my voice void of emotion. Grissom looks up, like the boys his face is red and puffy. The expression on his face tells me that he does not know what I'm talking about. "About Sara?" Finally it registers.

"Nothing happened. She said she couldn't do it." He mumbles.

"Good to know." I say. He gives me a look that could be remorse.

"You know how much she meant to me Catherine."

"To you? She's my wife Gil! You knew that." I yell. Grissom and Brass were the only people at work who knew until yesterday, and only then because they caught us out one day.

"Well then you should have been there for her instead of being so wrapped up in your own problems. She came to me Catherine, she needed a shoulder to cry on." He continues, his voice rising slightly.

"And I'm sure you were happy to oblige." I say sarcastically. "Did you offer her anything else?"

"She was upset. I just told her that if she wasn't happy then maybe it wasn't supposed to be. And that if she needed me I was here for her."

"Were you there for her on Wednesday?" I ask, lowering my voice. He doesn't answer for a moment.

"We were going to a conference. It was business." He states, but I've known him long enough, I know when he's hiding something.

"You're lying." He sighs.

"Alright, I thought that maybe something was going to happen and I would not have said no," He conceded, "but nothing did." I look away, unconvinced. "I'm serious Catherine. Sara called me before the conference, told me that she couldn't go through with it. That she needed to be with you. Ask Warrick, I phoned him to take her place at the seminar." Something in the tone of his voice tells me that he is being truthful. "She loved you Catherine. I'm sure you could have sorted things out. I wish I could say sorry for making it harder for her, for putting her in that position where she had to chose. But it's too late now." He sighs. I stare at him for a moment.

"Not yet it's not." I mumble as I turn and walk out, feeling his curious eyes burning into my back on the way.

X x x

I make a few stops before arriving home again, where my mother is waiting for me.

"Maybe it's time to start making some arrangements." She says softly.

"No need, I've made them." I announce, walking into the kitchen and getting myself a drink of water.

"What? When?" She follows me through the house.

"Today. The funeral is tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? As in Saturday?" She asks incredulous.

"Yep. Saturday." I place my now empty glass in the sink and walk away, leaving her standing in the middle of the kitchen doing a good impression of a fish.

X x x

Before she goes to bed my mother pokes her head around my bedroom door. I'm sitting in Sara's side of the bed, wearing one of her t-shirts that she sleeps in, and drinking a glass of wine, the bottle sat next to me.

"Goodnight honey. Everything will be ok I promise." She says quietly before slipping out.

"Mom." I call her back. "If I let Sara die, is that the same as killing her?" my voice trembles as I ask the question, the very notion sending shivers down my spine. She gives me a sympathetic look.

"Oh Catherine honey. She's already dead." I raise my eyes to her, not saying a word.

**x x x x**

**Let me know what you think x**


	6. Sunday

**Sunday**

"You know, maybe you should take Lindsey out for the day, just the two of you. You should spend some time together." I say to Sara as we are in the bedroom this morning.

"Yeah, I might do that." She says as she begins to get dressed. Perhaps it's the thought that I may never see her beautiful body again, but I cannot seem to take my eyes off of her. However, if she's noticed then she hasn't let on. I stare at her soft skin, the gentle curves of her figure, the way her hips sway as she walks over to the chest of drawers. She turns around and catches my gaze. She smiles shyly and promptly pulls her t-shirt over her head – even after a year of marriage she is still self-conscious in front of me. I make a mental note to change that, if I get a chance.

X x x

As soon as Lindsey and Sara have departed for the day the first thing I do is check my notes, which remind me to put the stickers up on the patio doors. I am not going to let that mistake happen again. I have decided that the only way I can change this is to change the order of things.

With my mind at peace over that I grab my keys and climb into my car, speeding down the road without direction or intent, and yet I find myself in the one place that I never thought I'd need to be again, and possibly the one place that can help me.

X x x

As I enter the church I am not really sure what to expect; a sense of foreboding, a feeling of safety. Instead, I feel ... lost. I wander through the pews slowly, not really sure what I'm doing here, just letting the silence wash over me. Which is why I jump when I hear someone call my name. I spin around and find myself staring into a familiar face.

"Father Kennedy." I gasp, catching my breath.

"It's been a while Catherine." He smiles at me. I just stare for a moment, unsure of what to say, and the words slip out against my will.

"I'm scared Father."

X x x

"In 1898 author Morgan Robertson wrote a book about a shipwreck which was remarkably similar to the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. October 26th 1969 145 people were killed in a landslide in Wales; over 200 people experienced precognitions and premonitions of the disaster. 1918 a man claims to have seen the graves of his two children during the influenza epidemic and shot them to spare them the illness. Autopsies showed that they were never infected and he killed himself a week later."

We are sat in the pews as Father Kennedy explains this to me. After my unexpected confession the words just started to fall out of their own accord, and instead of thinking that I was going mad like Dr Roth had, he simply nodded knowingly.

"The faithless are empty vessels," he continues, "With nothing inside them to guide them they are more susceptible to greater forces. You need to have faith that life can be a miracle itself."

"I don't believe in miracles." I state. "But I need faith and stability right now; I just don't know how to get it."

"Faith is just a belief in something that you cannot see or touch but that you can feel. Like hope, or love. You just need to find something to believe in, something to fight for." I can feel tears beginning to trickle down my face as I tell him the worst part of my predicament.

"I don't know what to fight for anymore."

X x x

After leaving the church I head to the road where Jim told me the accident happened. At the 'Mile 220' sign I pull up and get out. This is it; this is where my nightmare began...or will begin. I can feel it in my bones. I do not know what I expect to gain from coming here; an understanding, an explanation, a gut feeling. Anything would be helpful right now.

Father Kennedy's words are screaming loudly in my mind as I stand in the middle of the deserted road, staring into the distance; perhaps if I can see far enough then I will see what it will take to stop this.

The sound of a car horn scares the life out of me and I practically fall onto the bonnet as the car passes me. With less answers than questions I get back in my car.

X x x

We are in the same room, and yet we could be a million miles away from each other right now. I am curled up on the chair and Sara is reading on the couch opposite me. Lindsey tears through the room and lands on Sara.

"Hey, steady there little miss." She jokes, lifting our little girl onto her lap. Lindsey wraps her arms around her and gives her a goodnight kiss before climbing off of her and coming to give me the same. As I hold her I whisper to her;

"Why don't you give Sara an extra hug, tell her how much you love her." Lindsey nods and scuttles across the room, launching herself at Sara once again, startling her a second time.

"I love you." She says, wrapping her little arms tightly around Sara's neck. Sara looks somewhat confused but returns the hug.

"I love you too baby girl." My wife states.

"What about me?" I ask, and for the first time Sara looks at me, confusion written all over her face.

"What?" She questions.

"Do you love me?" I ask her slowly, sincerely, fixing her with an unwavering look. Sara looks from me to Lindsey, who is staring at us curiously.

"Baby why don't you go to bed." She says softly and Lindsey shuffles upstairs, still watching us suspiciously. Sara's non-answer screams a million words and before she has a chance to say anything I stand up and walk outside through the patio doors, despite the fact that it is pouring with rain.

"Cath." I hear her calling me but don't stop walking until I reach the bottom of the garden, where she catches up with me, grabbing my arm to stop me. "What are you doing? Come inside." She tries to pull me in but I tug my arm free.

"It was a simple question." I state, crossing my arms – a clear indicator that I'm not going anywhere.

"Catherine you know the answer. Just come inside and talk to me, tell me what's wrong." She tries again but I still don't budge.

"That's just it Sara, I don't know anything anymore. Something's different now; we're not the same family anymore." I explain tearfully.

"I still love you, things change that's all." She shouts over the storm.

"Why? I want us to go back to how we were, I need you back Sara, I need us back!" I yell, tears mingling with raindrops on my face.

Suddenly a crash of lightning strikes the power lines and a crow falls to the ground next to us. A rogue power-line begins to spark and hiss in the rain so Sara instinctively wraps an arm protectively around me and guides us quickly back into the house.

X x x

Sara is sat on the bed, not looking at me. She moves to get undressed but, with Father Kennedy's words echoing in my head, I kneel down before her and stop her hands with my own.

"I'm sorry." I whisper. Her eyes are burning into me, an unasked question hovering beneath the surface. I release her hands to unbutton her shirt, peppering feather-light kisses up her stomach with every new bit of skin I uncover. Finally I push the material off her shoulders, running my hands down her strong arms. My fingers glide to her back and swiftly remove her bra, as my lips find the sensitive skin between her breasts. My eyes have never left hers.

I lift myself of the floor, laying myself on top of her on the bed. I kiss my way back down her body and remove the rest of her clothes before standing up and undressing myself slowly, sensually. Her eyes follow every movement of my hands. Naked, I lay myself on top of her again, covering her slender body with my own. We mould together perfectly, moving in tandem. No words are spoken; no sound is made as we dance this familiar dance that only we can perfect.

X x x

I watch Sara sleep, tucked comfortably into the crook of her neck. I hold my breath, terrified that if I so much as move then this moment could fade away.

"What?" She asks sleepily, not opening her eyes.

"What?" I ask back.

"You've got a look." She states, letting her eyes drift open and shut drowsily.

"What look?"

"Like you want to tell me something." She's right; there are a lot of things that I want to tell her. But only one finds its way out.

"I love you." Her reply is barely a whisper, but I hear it as loud as if she had screamed it from the roof.

"I love you too. More than the world."

**x x x x**

**One chapter left :)**


	7. Wednesday

**Wednesday**

I blink a couple of times to wake myself up, then sit bolt upright. What day is it?

I grab my phone from the bedside table and call Nancy. "What day is it?" I bark down the phone.

"Wednesday. Cathy what's wrong?" She asks but I hang up before answering. I fly out of bed and search the house, calling Sara's name to no answer. Eventually I find a note on the kitchen counter.

_Have taken Lindsey to school, made you some breakfast. See you tomorrow night. _

_Love Sara x_

I drop the note and grab my keys, not even bothering to get dressed.

It's a damn good job I don't pass any police cars at the speed I'm driving. When I reach Lindsey's school I sit outside for a moment, until I catch a glimpse of her. She is playing and smiling, and completely unharmed. Satisfied, I tear off, nearly knocking over the crossing lady in the process.

"Come on Sara pick up." I mumble as I call her cell phone.

X x x

Sara's POV

As I'm driving to the conference I think about Catherine and the way things have been lately. I know we've hit a few bumps in the road but I do not want to lose her. However, these last few days she has been ... weird. I don't know why but she seems lost. I want to help her but she won't talk to me.

And then there's Grissom. He's been a great friend lately, but I don't think that's all he wants to be. I will admit I was tempted, after all he is the reason I came to Vegas. But she's the reason I stayed.

Grabbing my cell phone I call Grissom. He answers after the second ring. "Hey, it's me." I start, unsure of what else to say.

"Hi, I just got here. I can't wait for you to..."

"I can't do it." I blurt out. "I'm sorry, I need to be with Catherine."

"Oh. But the conference?" He asks hopefully.

"I can't. I'm sorry Gil. She needs me. And I need her." I hang up before he can say another word and immediately dial our home number. I get the machine.

"Hi, um, it's me. I just wanted you to know that I meant what I said the other night and, well I want you to remember it." I know what I want to say but it always comes out wrong. My phone beeps, telling me that I have another call. I swear under my breath and check the number. It's Catherine. "Is that you?" I ask before answering.

X x x

Cath POV

"Hey, I'm sorry for everything lately, I'm sorry for what I've been like, I'm sorry for taking you for granted I'm sorry..." I ramble until she cuts me off.

"Cath, honey stop talking. I'm sorry. I'm not good at relationship stuff and when things get hard I run away but I'm not going to do that anymore. I love you and I want you. I want us back, the way we were." My heart sings as those precious words filter through me. And as I come over the hill a smile graces my lips.

"I see you." I say. Her car is further up the road. I hear her chuckle into the phone and say she's pulling over. I relax, until I see where she had pulled over – right in front of the mile 220 sign. "Sara, if you love me and you trust me you'll turn around."

"What?"

"Just do it!" I yell. Her car swings around, nearly knocking another off the road. I hold my breath as her car stalls in the middle of the road. I yell her name down the phone but there is only silence until...

"Sorry, dropped my cell." I sigh with relief. But it is short lived. Through the phone I can hear her trying to start her car and the engine coughing. In the distance I can see a petrol tanker approaching her car. Abandoning my vehicle in the road I jump out and run towards her, still in my bath robe and all.

"Get out of the car!" I scream, sprinting as fast as I can in a bathrobe. But it is not fast enough.

As I get near to the car I do not see Sara. All I see is the tanker slam into her, pushing the car along the road. The tanker swerves and flips it onto the roof, before veering into the ditch. I run towards the overturned vehicle, hysterically screaming Sara's name, and drop to my knees by the wreckage. Sara is unconscious and bleeding in the drivers seat. I feel someone, probably the tanker driver, holding me back and speaking to me in Spanish but I struggle away from him and crawl over to the car. Despite the damage to it I manage to open her door and reach in to feel her pulse, which is thankfully beating strongly. Despite what I presume are warnings from the man behind me I reach into the car and undo her seatbelt, letting her fall into my arms. As gently as I can I pull her out of the car and lay her on the road, holding her head in my lap. The man who has been hurling warnings at me in Spanish runs over and lifts her into his arms in one swift move, and runs away with her, causing me to follow.

I find myself thrown to my knees by an explosion that leaves my ears ringing. The car has burst into flames which are licking at the air, smoke surrounding us like a cape. At a safe distance the man sets Sara down on the ground and I immediately drop next to her, cradling her in my arms. For a minute that feels like an hour she just lays there motionless, and then a wonderful thing happens. Her beautiful brown eyes blink open at me and she smiles weakly.

"I love you." She mumbles. Without a thought I lean down to kiss her passionately, letting myself melt as the smoke envelopes us in a haze and the sound of sirens resonates in the distance.

"You're alive." I mumble against her lips. She breaks the kiss and looks deep into my eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere."

**x x x x**

**Hope I didn't disappoint. Just one more chap to go :) Please review x**


	8. Epilogue

**Finalimo! Hope y'all enjoyed it, let me know what you thought. Thank you to all who reviewed, your support means the world, and thank you to Jessica Wilson for your neverending support :) x**

**x x x x**

**Epilogue**

I wake up alone in bed and my first instinct is to panic. I throw myself out of bed and search the house. Reaching the living room I look out of the patio doors – which are thankfully still in one piece – and smile. For there you are standing in the garden, clutching my coffee, staring into space. I slip outside, pulling my robe tight, and watch you. When you sense my eyes on your back, you turn to me and smile. I can see the gash on your forehead from the accident, and yet I don't care, because it means that you survived.

"What day is it?" I ask as I wander down the garden and into your arms, kissing you softly.

"Thursday." You answer, looking puzzled by my question. I love that expression on you, it looks so cute. I make a mental note to tell you that more often.

"I love you." I whisper. Taking the coffee, we stand like that, wrapped in each other and staring into space, until Lindsey runs down the garden towards us. You scoop her up and place a kiss on her face, her beautiful, unscarred face. I stroke her cheek lovingly before she suggests we go have breakfast. "I'll be right in." I say, watching the two of you disappear inside.

I take a mental photo of this moment. This is everything I want right here.

With my wife and my daughter safe, I send a silent prayer to the clouds.

"Thank you."

**x x x x **

**Second chances don't come easily. Use them wisely and make the most of every moment you live x**


End file.
